After that fatal night
by Storyteller Shell
Summary: This happened one year later...Hero Boy and his family


**I don't own the Polar Express or its characters. I only own my characters. I changed the names of the characters though.**

**Hero boy is Jason**

**Hero Boy's sister is Sarah**

_Beno asked out aloud, "It is Christmas already?"_

_We appeared and shook our heads. We looked around for Beno. Beno sat on the porch of the ranch house. _

_Beno said, "I was just checking since I see an elf walking towards us."_

_We turned around, and sure enough a short old lady approached us. By now, Masayo, Jewel, and a few unknown storytellers gathered in front of the house. _

_The short old lady said, "Have you ever seen a country that focus on Christmas all year long?...Everything is related to Christmas…"_

_Beno interrupted, "Yep, I know you now. Story time!"_

_Tom asked, Story time? I thought I was getting a present."_

_The old lady continued, "They give and receive with gladness. They are short like me. They are not like humans…What are they?..."_

_We puzzled at that question when suddenly we entered the story zone. .._

It was Christmas evening when a boy crawled into bed. He heard his parents talking to his sister in her room. It was located across from his.

Sarah asked, "Why couldn't you hear the bell?"

Her mother said, "The bell is broken."

Sarah replied, "No, the bell is not broken. I heard its beautiful sound."

Dad laughed, "Then it must be your imagination."

Sarah asked, "It is?"

Mother replied, "Yes, it is. Your imagination is working again…Time for bed."

Sarah said, "Good night!"

Mother and Father said, "Good night Sarah!"

The boy quietly pulled out the little bell. He gently shook it and the bell dinged several times. He sighed and remembered that fateful night…It all happened one year ago on Christmas Eve. He had doubts before the arrival of the Polar Express. He believed after he had met Santa Claus. He wondered why his parents couldn't hear the bell…

He stared at the ceiling and thought, "Why didn't his parents hear the bell? They always told me that they believed in Santa Claus…"

Now the boy began to have doubts about his parents' words. He fell asleep dreaming of the Polar Express…

The old lady added, "Last summer the flu went around. His sister caught it but he never did. The doctors thought that was strange. They did a full examination on the boy but nothing came up. His mother was a little worried…

A few minutes later, his parents came into the room. His mother touched the boy's forehead gently.

Father whispered, "He will be fine."

Mother said, "I know that…But he still has that bell."

Father said, "He is asleep now…Time to go to bed."

Mother closed the door and joined her husband in the bedroom. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

She thought, "I recognized that bell anywhere. It is from Santa's sled. Did he go on that train?"

She paused for a few moments to rinse out her mouth. Her eyes wandered over to the medicine cabinet. She opened it and examined the bottles. She picked out the smallest bottle and closed the cabinet.

She read, "The medicine that will caused memory loss of an elf."

She sighed, "I am sorry my son but I can't lose you. I must block out those memories."

She walked out of the bathroom and set the bottle on the nightstand. Her husband was in bed doing his devotions. They both were very strong Christians.

He saw the bottle and asked, "It is that time again?"

She nodded, "Yes it is. The doctor called and said that Jason must retake the medicine."

The father thought for a moment. He couldn't recall the doctor's call today.

He asked, "When did he call? Today is Christmas, no one is at work."

She said, "Oh, he called couple days ago. You were not around when he called."

The father said, "Ok."

She sighed happily. She got into bed.

The father thoughts, "That is strange. The doctor is doing house calls? Something is very strange here. If I remember correctly, the doctor said that the test was positive…This was a very strange year. It all started with that bell…"

Meanwhile on the other side of the bed, the mother stared at the ceiling.

She thought, "Oh my, I don't like to lied but I need to. He must never know about my real past. Oh Jason! Why do you have to be an elf? Don't you know that I hate elves and Christmas. I only celebrate it because I care about you kids..."

She went to sleep dreaming about her past life as an elf...Meanwhile back in Jason's room. The boy suddenly woke up. It as though he felt some quite strange. He sat up and studied the bell. At that moment the bell glowed a little. He became frighten and dropped it. It landed on the floor next to his bed. it was still glowing.

Suddenly Jason heard a voice that said, "Read the notebook!"

Then the bell stopped glowing. He got up and went over to his desk. He pulled out an old notebook...

_The old lady concluded, "An interesting start of a new series. I am Grandma and storyteller Carol to the Polar Express...And this is my story...Bye for now!"_

_All the storytellers stared at Beno. They wondered how he managed to figure out that Carol was a storyteller...We left wondering the same thing..._

_**This is my first Polar express short story..**  
_


End file.
